Rick Scott silent on other surgeon general applicants

Last week, Gov. Rick Scott announced interim state surgeon general Dr. Celeste Philip would take on the job full-time, but he and his office won't say whether they sought other applications for the job.

Asked whether he considered other candidates, Scott did not directly answer the question in a conversation with reporters Tuesday.

"Dr. Phillips has done a great job at the Department of Health, and she did a great job there while John Armstrong was there," Scott said. "And so I appointed her the interim when John left, and she's done a great job."

The Times/Herald asked his spokespeople the same question last week, and they have not responded with an answer.

Scott can hire anyone who meets basic requirements -- like being a medical doctor with public health experience -- as surgeon general and secretary of DOH, and there is no public component of the hiring process. The Senate has final confirmation authority and must act on Philip's appointment by the end of the 2018 legislativsession.

Philip was an internal hire, previously the deputy secretary of health responsible for Children's Medical Services, as well as HIV and other communicable diseases -- both areas about which senators raised questions in Armstrong's confirmation hearings.

She became interim surgeon general March 11 at the end of the legislative session after Armstrong was not confirmed for the job, and she was acting surgeon general last fall when Armstrong took time off to undergo treatment for colon cancer.

Sign up for The Daily Buzz on Florida Politics

Get the top five stories from the Tampa Bay Times political team emailed to you Monday-Friday at 3 p.m.

Blog Search

About the blog

For Florida political news today, the Buzz is your can't-miss-it source. Tampa Bay Times writers offer the latest in Florida politics, the Florida Legislature and the Rick Scott administration. Keep in mind: This is a public forum sponsored and maintained by the Tampa Bay Times. When you post comments here, what you say becomes public and could appear in the newspaper. You are not engaging in private communication with candidates or Times staffers.